Das Buch (The Book). Anselm Kiefer, 1985. Lead, steel, and tinThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has recently launched a new website and have made available 20,000 images from their vast collection for free download. LACMA is blessed with the largest holdings of American Art in the west and now a quarter of their works online are available for free!The Book (Fall) III. John Stezaker, 2009. Artist’s book with unique photo collageTo celebrate the announcement we dedicate this installment of In The Stacks to LACMA. There is so much great book stuff here that we will need to visit again soon.Big Pile Of Books by...
In the Stacks: Playing Cards at the Beinecke
One of the most extensive collections of playing cards ever assembled resides at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.Known as the Cary Collection, it consists of over 2600 packs of cards, 460 sheets of uncut card papers, and 150 wood blocks for printing cards. The Collection contains standard cards from 16 European countries and 6 countries in the Western Hemisphere, as well as nonstandard cards from 23 European and 3 Western Hemisphere countries, and its content represents over 500 years of cardmaking.The "nonstandard" cards include subjects like: Advertisement, Cartomancy, Education, History, Humor, and Souvenir types, many not intended...
In the Stacks: National Library of Ireland
[paperback bargains] Dublin, 1969.Next stop for In the Stacks is the National Library of Ireland. Located in Dublin, Ireland's national library is home to the most comprehensive collection of Irish documentary material on the planet. Here is a little book-themed grouping from their Flickr offering. The Reading Room of Miss Sandes Soldiers Home in the Curragh Camp. Elise Sandes (1851-1934) from Tralee, Co Kerry founded this movement near army camps in Ireland, England and India. She was an evangelical missionary and her aim was to provide wholesome recreation for young soldiers to keep them away from pubs. Eason & Son Ltd.,...
In The Stacks: The Astor Free Library at the NYPL
This is the latest installment of In the Stacks. A series dedicated to exploring the digital archives of the leading libraries, institutions and organizations of the known universe. At the prompting of his close friend, Joseph Cogswell, John Jacob Astor set aside $400,000 for the creation of a free public library. When it opened in 1854 The Astor Free Library was one of the first public libraries in the United States. It was also one of the most progressive institutions on the planet.The library was open to anyone from anywhere who was older than 14. It was one of the...
In the Stacks: Women’s Travel Diaries at Duke University
The folks at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University have a new digital collection on view. Women's Travels Diaries features over 100 diaries written by British and American women who documented their travels to places around the globe, including India, the West Indies, countries in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as around the United States.The collection is comprised mostly of the diaries of Mary McCornack Thompson, a Presbyterian missionary and teacher with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in South Africa and Mary McMillan, a United Methodist missionary and...